Disclaimer-He's mine! All mine!

Actual Disclaimer- I do not own Inuyasha. Disregard crazy statement above.

AN- Man, you guys flatter me so much! Thank you! And if you haven't noticed, it does wonders for my creative flow… ;-)

A Visual Fluke

"What do you want already?" The young man sitting on the well snapped at her with a frown on his handsome face. A face, Kagome found, she could see quite clearly, despite the lack of proper lighting in the room. "Why are you looking at me…like…that…?" Understanding seeped into his features, as he abruptly realized that she wasn't just looking towards him; she was actually looking at him. "No way," he said in faint denial, his back going ram-rod straight. "There's just no way."

Kagome managed to push herself away from the door and walk down the first couple steps towards Inuyasha. At his softly spoken words she stopped and said just as softly. "Yes way."

Inuyasha seemed frozen to his seat as she resumed taking the steps down to the dirt floor on the bottom. When she was only a couple feet away from him she stopped once more and tilted her head to the side with a quizzical expression on her face. He noticed her gaze had shifted slightly upward and could guess her question before it even formed on her lips.

"Um, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah," came the gruff reply.

"Are those…dog ears on you head?"

"…Yeah, what of it?"

Kagome quickly snapped her focus to his eyes and even as she took in their lovely shade of golden yellow, she saw in them a look of warning. "Oh, nothing, nothing. I was just checking." Her gaze once again floated up to his ears, and she had the almost irresistible urge to stroke them. But of course she wouldn't, because it would be rude.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Okay, so maybe she didn't care if it was rude or not. Her hands reached up to give them a little tug, but were sorely disappointed to find they went right through them without even a pause. 'Aw. Too bad…' Apparently her hand weren't the only one's that were disappointed…

"Stupid girl, you can't touch me if I don't want you to." Inuyasha said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "So keep you grubby hands to yourself, alright."

Ignoring the insults for once, Kagome brightened momentarily at what he had (basically) said. "So I could touch you?"

Inuyasha gave her a look as if to say, 'didn't you just here me you idiot?' and said, "Are you deaf or something? I just said you couldn't."

Kagome shook her head with a tiny smile tugging at her mouth. "Nuh-uh, you said I couldn't touch you if you didn't want me to. Which means I could if you let me, isn't that right?"

Thinking back to what he had said, Inuyasha came to the conclusion that, yes, he had implied that would be the case. 'Dammit! Why does she have to act so smart all of a sudden?' Instead of admitting to her she was correct though, he simply shrugged and told her, "No, that's not what it means. What it means is, you read too much into things and should keep your hands to yourself next time. And that's all."

Not believing a word of it, but feeling a little dejected all the same, Kagome answered with her own shrug. "Fine, fine, I was just wondering." Pause. "So…I take it I'm the only one to see you in a while. Or am I reading too much into that also?" she inquired teasingly.

Instead of rising to her bait, Inuyasha took on a serious expression as her looked at her. What was it about this girl that was so special? Why was it she was able to do things no one had done for over five hundred years? He had lied when he said he didn't know how many other people he had been Guardian to. It had been a lot. And not one of them had ever given any indication they knew he was even nearby, much less keeping them safe while randomly throwing insults to their backs. 'Is it because she looks so much like…' No. He wouldn't even go there. It was just a stupid coincidence, that was all.

Kagome was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable under his scrutiny. 'Why is he staring at me like that? Well two can play this gamet.' With that thought Kagome proceeded to stare back at him with the same unwavering look. Letting her eyes wander a bit, she took in his odd clothing, noting (with some pride at remembering her history correctly) that they were from the feudal era and very authentic looking. 'Surely they aren't real though?' She moved onto his hands, taking in the sharp looking claws and calloused fingers that looked as though they were accustomed to hard work. Dropping her gaze to the floor she saw that his feet were bare and also well calloused as if they were used to rough treatment without shoes. She then raised her eyes to his face once more and studied that. She observed with inward approval of how well his silver-white hair framed his boyishly good-looking features. Dark eyebrows set off his amber eyes perfectly against his lightly tanned skin, and when he opened his mouth, she could detect tiny pointed fangs there. Suddenly figuring out that Inuyasha had opened his mouth because he was saying something to her, she ripped her eyes from his mouth and saw he was looking at her with a somewhat annoyed expression.

"Er, I'm sorry. What were you saying Inuyasha?" she asked, feeling a slight flush creep up her neck as she realized she had been staring at him for quite some time now.

He gave her an exasperated look and repeated what he said. "I said, if you're done ogling me, you should probably go inside before you family sends out a search party for you. It's after dark in case you hadn't noticed."

Kagome looked around to a window and saw that it was, in fact, after sundown and the light was quickly fading from the well room. Her embarrassment at his statement swiftly faded away as she understood he was probably right. For once. "I guess I should go back inside." Her stomach gave another mighty growl as if in agreement. "For your sake, their better be some gyoza left."

"Oh, I'm so scared."

She gave an emphatic nod of her head. "As you should be. Come on let's go." She walked over to the steps and stopped half way there to turn around and say something else. Whatever she was about to say died on her lips when she saw she was once again alone in the room.

"What's wrong now?" she heard from right in front of her.

"Ee! Don't do that! Or at least warn me before hand," she said putting her hand over her chest in an attempt to slow her racing heart. She wished he would quit scaring her like that!

"What are you talking about?"

Kagome waved her hand vaguely. "That disappearing, let's stand right beside Kagome and scare the living bejeezus out of her, thing."

A pause. "You can't see me any more?"

Frowning and not understanding she replied, "Uh, no. …You mean you can't control it?"

"No. I didn't do anything to make you see me the first time, you just did. Huh…" And suddenly he was back again, sitting on the well rim with a contemplative look on his face.

A small noise from Kagome made him look up. Obviously, from her expression, she could see him again. Interesting… Kagome seemed to catch on as well as she said, "Stand up again."

He did so. Poof. No more Inuyasha. And poof, back again when he sat once more.

"Weird," she mused to herself. "Try standing up and then just touching the well."

Again, he complied and stood up. And was gone from sight and then back again with his hand outstretched to touch the well. Kagome told him as much. Looking down at the well his hand was resting on, Inuyasha wondered what magic could be at work to make him visible at the mere touch of it. There's something strange about this well. And oddly familiar…' He was drawn from his thoughts by Kagome's presence next to him.

She looked up into his face with a curious expression. "How is it doing this?"

Feeling a little self conscious at her closeness, Inuyasha snatched his hand back from the wood and was relieved to see her blink in confusion to his disappearing act. "How should I know, wench?" he said brusquely. His words had the desired effect as she took a step back and set her hands upon her hips with a peeved look.

"You don't have to get all defensive. It was just a question."

"Feh, whatever."

Deciding whatever odd moment they had had in here was over, Kagome turned to go up the stairs for a second time. When she was half way up, she asked without turning around, "Are you coming?"

Wondering how she had known he was still at the bottom of the stairs watching her walk away, he replied, "Yeah, I'm coming." With one last glance at the old well, Inuyasha followed her out the door and into the night.

AN- No real cliffy tonight. You all got off lucky.

Bye for now.